Here Come the High-Definition 3-D TVs

Panasonic, Samsung, Sony announced upcoming 3-D HDTVs this week.

March 11, 2010

Yesterday, Panasonic
sold its first 3-D HDTVs at Best Buy in New York. For about $3,000, you can get a 50-inch 3-D plasma TV, a 3-D Blu-ray player and one pair of 3-D
glasses (additional ones are available for about $150). Just the day
before, Samsung
announced that it will be selling three versions of 3-D TVs within the month and
Sony stated that it will roll out
3-D TVs this June in Japan.

Samsung’s sets will range from $1,699 to $6,999 and it will offer more
versions in the spring and summer (some versions are already
offered in South Korea). To coincide with the release of its first 3DTVs, Sony plans to release 3-D gaming software, most likely for its Playstation 3 system.

3-D Home Theaters have been available from Mitsubishi since 2007,
at prices ranging between $1,500 and $4,200. Mitsubishi has also recently demoed a
Nvidia driver that converts PC games in 3-D on its screens.

With so many 3-D TVs on the way, viewers will need something to watch. Satellite TV service
DirecTV confirmed that it will offer three 3-D channels in June, while sports
network ESPN plans to broadcast the soccer World Cup in June on its new 3-D channel.